The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-09-13
FULTON'S LOST RECORDS.
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS SCORE
THE ABSTRACT COMPANY.

Two Members of the Board Asked to
Resign Because They Hold Stock in
the Company-A Determination to
Close the Books Against the Concern
in the Future.
ATLANTA, GA, Sept. 12.--The grand jury
met this morning and passed the following
resolutions, which were furnished to the
press for publication:
RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of this grand
jury that the Land Title Warranty Company
should allow copies of their records to be taken
TO supply the place of the stolen records in the
clerk S office, and that IL the company refuses
such an act of common-sense justice, they
should at once be prohibited from taking any
further Information from the records in tins
clerks office.
Resolved, That it is a great Injustice and
wrong to the people of Fulton county for it's
public records to be used for the purpose of
building up monopoly for the benefit Of few
individuals at the expense of the people in q
case where the people are power!ess to remedy
the wrong. 1t is not right for any man or set OF
men to have such an unjust advantage of the
public when that advantage Is acquired only
through the misfortune of the public in the
theft of the records The company has been
permitted freely to copy our records, without
any compensation or condition in any way. The
refusal now to furnish the public with the copies
they freely took from the peoples records Is
manitesty unjust and wrong, and Is an exhibi-
tlpH o n splIb OF unfaTneSS ana SeuSnuesS,
without any justification whatever, and meets
our unqualified condemnation
Resolved That we fully indorse the resol,l-
tions introduced in the Board of County Conn
mssoners by George w. Adar, on the 7th iuya,
and heartily commend the efforts of Mr. Adlir
and Mr.. KiSer, of the Board to secure copies OF
the said records for the benefit of the people Of
Fulton county.
Resoloed That in our opinion those members
OF the Board Of County. Commissioners who arc
stockholders in the Land Title Warranty Com
pany are disqualified from sitting as Commits.
sionerS and voting when this question is bafore
the Board. 1t is IN violation Of law and against
the public good, and against the interests and
the rights of the people Of the county. Their
actions meet our unqualified condemnation and
we respectfully request them to resign their Of
fees as Commissioners.
The foregoing resolutions were unanimously
adopted and ordered to be given to the public.
WILLIAM K GARRETT, Foreman
]. HEALY SMITH, Secretary.
This 12th day September, 1887.
Commissioners e. 7. Hunnicutt and James
d. Collins are the members of the board re-
ferred to in the resolutions. The former
has held several positions of honor and trust
in this county, and Mr.. Collins was once
Clerk of the Superior Court of Fulton
county. Both of them own stock in
the Warranty Company. Mr.. Col
Inns got up the abstract books
and sold them to the company, which he or
ganized under an act of the Legislature.
The value of the books can be understood
when it is stated that they contain informa-
tion not now to be had in the Clerks Office,
owing to the fact that years ago several
books of records were stolen from the Office,
and have not since been recovered.